


Ghost of the Goblin King Past

by Bowieschick4765



Category: Labyrinth (1986)
Genre: Center for Puppetry Arts, F/M, Mistaken Identity, bringing back a spirit, girls trip to Atlanta
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-22
Updated: 2018-06-13
Packaged: 2019-01-04 07:40:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12164466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bowieschick4765/pseuds/Bowieschick4765
Summary: This story is based on my visit in June last year to the Puppetry Center in Atlanta to see the Jim Henson Labyrinth exhibit.  I asked myself this question after I came back - 'What if, when you go somewhere extraordinary, that you can bring back a piece of it with you unknowingly.  Can something attach itself to you?'.  Instant story idea.AN:I have most of the chapters done, just editing and posting as I go along.  It's not unlike me to go back in a re-edit chapters.





	1. And a Journey Begins

**Author's Note:**

> This story is based on my visit in June last year to the Puppetry Center in Atlanta to see the Jim Henson Labyrinth exhibit. I asked myself this question after I came back - 'What if, when you go somewhere extraordinary, that you can bring back a piece of it with you unknowingly. Can something attach itself to you?'. Instant story idea.
> 
> AN:  
> I have most of the chapters done, just editing and posting as I go along. It's not unlike me to go back in a re-edit chapters.

“Wanna go to Atlanta?”

“Yes!” Jenna replied quickly, not giving her friend a chance to reconsider her question.

This was how it all started, just a casual conversation over the lunch table between two co-workers one rainy day. Of course she eagerly jumped at the fortuitous offer! She had a special reason for wanting to go and had actually been trying to figure out a way to get to Georgia somehow within the next six months. The worst part was dreading the thought of driving alone for over three hours because she hated driving long distances. Had this chance not come along if she still wanted to go it was unavoidable. Without her asking, Kristen volunteered to drive so, voila – a plan was being set into action.

“The kiddo and I need a break before I end up killing my damn ex. He’s driving us both crazy!” The way Kristen said it through gritted teeth made Jenna laugh not to mention how she gripped her hands together as if strangling someone invisible to emphasize. Kristen used her hands a lot to gesture animatedly as she talked which gave conversations a humorous touch and a dramatic flair. She blamed it on being from Italian heritage.

“A day or so out of town will do us both some good. He stresses her out and I catch it when he brings her home. We’re usually about ready to kill each other within an hour after she walks in the door”. She glanced over at Jenna, who looked very amused. "I swear some days I just want to kill him!". There were the hand motions again!

"Now do you see why I'm single?" Jenna said.

“I know, right? He's the reason I'm glad divorces were invented" Kristin paused, then quickly thought that since Jenna didn't have children that she didn't know her kid tolerance level so she had to ask. "You don’t mind if we take Maddie do you?”

“Well, Randy’s an asshole anyway, so of course I don’t mind her coming. She’s adorable, so the more the merrier!”. She still just couldn’t believe the stroke of luck or the timing.

”What made you decide on Atlanta of all places? I mean, not that I think it’s a bad choice or anything, just wondering.” Jenna asked, changing the subject.

“I asked her where she wanted to go and she wants to go back to see the dolphins and big fish at the aquarium again. Go figure, she’s seen them three times already. Must be a kid thing” she said, shrugging her shoulders.

“Yeah, must be, but she is seven after all. That's what they do. They find the one thing they get attached to and wear it out” Jenna replied. “I have a niece and nephew to prove that fact.”

“That’s true!”

“Truthfully I’m kind of feeling the same way about going to Atlanta that Maddie does” and Kristen cocked her head slightly raising her eyebrows in question.

“Really? Why? Is there someone there that you’re dying to see?” she asked.

“No’ she said, laughing. “There’s just somewhere I need to go while we’re there, but only if it’s not too much out of the way” Jenna said.

“HAH! An old boyfriend! I thought so!”

Jenna shook her head ‘no’ which prompted Kristen to ask her next question.

“OK then, where?”

Jenna declined to answer until she told her the whole story. It would make sense then.

“Its downtown and I’m pretty sure close to where the Aquarium is. Oh and I’ll pay for the gas since you’re driving.”

“This ought to be interesting, so spill already!” Kristen said.

Jenna took a deep breath and let it out. “It all started when David Bowie died last year. You know how sad I was.” Kristen nodded her head in agreement as she continued explaining. “It took his passing to finally understand how all those people felt when Elvis died.” She paused. “I was like 12 years old – too young - and never really ‘got it’ then. Well, I do now.”

“Yeah, I was only a year old then but I remember my mom talking about it when I was a little older. She was really tore out of her frame over him.” Kristen added.

“There’s been this void I just can’t explain and it’s funny that it has affected me like this since I never even met him. But when he died it was like a part of the happiest years of my life died too. It's crazy!”

Kristin listened patiently as she continued then said “I should have known this would have to do with David Bowie.” She still didn’t get the point right then that Jenna was trying to make but knew the story was leading into something else.

“Well, I found out at Christmas last year that there is a museum in downtown Atlanta running a special exhibit and it’s only going to be there for a year. It’s done and gone by October so I don't have much time if I plan to go since it opened last September. This isn’t just any museum though, it’s the Labyrinth. You know, the cheesy movie from the 80’s – Bowie in tights dancing with Muppets?” This elicited a laugh from her friend because she clearly remembered the movie. Now she understood what Jenna was getting at.

“It’s kind of like my Holy Grail and I have tried to think of every way under the sun possible to go see it”.

“You never said anything about it or else maybe we could’ve gone sooner” Kristin said. “But hey, we’re going to go now! It’ll be fun”

‘ _Of course I never mentioned it_ ’ Jenna thought. Everyone in her friend and work circle thought she was taking her worship of the rock icon a little too far anyways, so as to spare herself from ridicule she kept her mouth shut but she just HAD to see it and be in the same room with anything that David touched before the exhibit ended. If not, she’d regret it the rest of her life. Hell, she had even planned as far as to go dressed in costume as the protagonist character Sarah for effect.

“I have some points to use for a hotel room so at least we’ll be set for that” Kristen said “I’ll start checking for hotels close to downtown.”

Lunch was over and she went back to her desk and pulled up the museum on the internet and proceeded to pore over it the rest of the afternoon.

As soon as she learned of its existence, she did her research and found the location and details. The exhibit held several authentic props and artifacts and there was also one of the costumes David wore in a scene from the movie.

To her, the Labyrinth was not just any movie. She had seen it so many times over the years reciting it word for word was not a problem. The first copy she owned was now an old, tattered VHS tape but it was treated like gold, earning a spot on a bookshelf with her most cherished possessions. When the age of DVD came along it was one of the first purchased in her collection. Maybe she’d pull it out and watch it when she got home.

She knew one thing for sure - it was going to be hard to sleep that night knowing she was really getting to go see it for herself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A day later, Kristen popped her head in Jenna’s office smiling at her like the Cheshire cat. “The hotel is booked for June!” It was two months away, and the countdown was on. The Labyrinth awaited her.


	2. Anticipation

May finally arrived and she counted down the days to the end of the month. It was now three days before they planned to leave. Kristen stuck her head around the door of Jenna’s office and tried to get her attention by waving frantically when she didn’t look up from her computer screen.

Finally looking up, she smiled and removed her earphones. She had to use them daily to drown out all the noise from the offices around hers especially too because of one really loud girl. This certain girl loved to rudely brag about her conquests, just like a boastful man would. It annoyed Jenna to her wits end. Rather than cause a scene she just blocked her out. They usually worked so well that sometimes people would startle her when they were close to or speaking to her.

“OK, so I know we’ve tossed the idea around for a while, but I was thinking that we probably need to be hitting the highway at 4 in the morning to beat traffic and get there early. Come straight to my house from work and you can spend the night. Is that okay with you?”

Jenna agreed.

“You can have Maddie’s bed too since she sleeps with me most of the time anyways”

“Sounds like fun!” Jenna said excitedly. She lived 45 minutes away from work and another 20 minutes south from her office to Kristen's and the thought of having to drive home then over another hour to Kristen’s didn’t appeal to her. It was only an overnight trip so the only thing she would have to bring was a small bag and her costume that was on a hanger. There was no need to make two unnecessary trips.

“We’ll check into the hotel and rest a bit before the museum opens.”

It all sounded just fine to her!

She had been anticipating this for so long and could hardly contain her excitement, so much that when they all retired to bed, she could barely get her eyes to stay closed. Four hours of sleep was all she could get after tossing and turning a bit. It would take drinking large amounts of coffee on the way to wake up.

The ride was long but they had fun. The sunrise was extremely beautiful for some reason to her - probably due to how happy she was to finally be going. After finding the hotel they checked in and rested for a couple of hours before she started to get ready. The museum would be explored first, lunch next, then the aquarium.

Standing in the bathroom mirror Jenna took a long look at her reflection after dressing. She had taken special care in representing Sarah and it showed in every aspect from the material for the vest to her dark hair that she let grow long ever since she had first planned to go to. Thinking back, it was hard to believe that she found something was so similar to the original waistcoat pattern in such a short time frame. It was also sheer luck that in a thrift store she found the perfect blouse within a few days before her trip – and she had been looking for one for months. She already had a vest that would work, jeans (of course) and the proper hair adornment so all there was to be done was to sew the material to the front and voila! – costume! It was like all of these things were supposed to occur as they were because everything fell meticulously into place. Jenna was a long time believer in Kismet and things happening for a reason. This was meant to be.

“C’mon Miss Roleplay! Let’s see how you look!” Kristen yelled to her from the bed where she was sitting brushing Maddie’s hair.

“Wow! Spot-on!” Kristen exclaimed putting the brush down admiring her outfit. Even Maddie looked impressed.

“Mommy, I want to look like Miss Jenna!” she shouted loudly to her mother.

That validation was enough to make her beam with pride.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Arriving at the museum, which was a bright green building painted in a harlequin pattern, her heart was in her throat as she stood at the large, heavy wood paneled doors. It was right after opening and pretty much deserted as they walked up to the ticket booth in the open lobby area. Across the room to the right Jareth’s throne sat regally against the wall, just as she had seen online. Further down the wall was the portal into the labyrinth and the excitement caused her pulse to race.

They purchased their tickets and walked towards the entrance and into the corridor of the exhibit. The brickwork on the walls looked exactly as if she were right there in the movie right down to the glittery surface of the stones. You could almost believe you were walking through one of the labyrinth's passages. The only things missing were the lichen, scattered tree limbs and weed debris.

She turned the first curve in the display being guided by the red arrow lipstick prints on the floor just like Sarah made showing her the way. There were several goblins in glass cases she saw as she slowly passed and of course the little blue worm who one would half-expect to greet everyone with a perky “Ello”.

Further down the pathway Agnes the Trash Lady peered out at her and the next section beside Agnes literally took her breath - it was David’s costume from the Escher room scene. She knew it was there from seeing it on the website, but it still was stunning nonetheless.

Looking at the figure, surrounded by other mannequins dressed in ballroom finery and masks it was amazing at exactly how tiny he actually was. His legs, though sinewy were very lean. Judging by his height with the heels on the boots he would have stood close to 6 feet tall – in real life David had claimed to be 5’10” but there were quite a few she read would dispute it and say 5’9” at best. Standing there with the glass between her and the mannequin barely two feet away there was not much of a considerable difference between them as she stood almost 5’7”. He may have been a smidge taller than her with both of them flat footed.

Krisitin and Maddie were standing at the next display admiring the large bronze clock from Jareth's castle with the thirteen large numerals on its face and the crystal balls that he juggled throughout the movie. When Jenna caught up with them, Kristen turned to look at Jenna noticing her looking back over her shoulder with a steady gaze again fixed on David’s outfit.

“If you look at him long enough do you think your wish will telepathically go through that glass and he’ll come and rescue you? Maybe whisk you away to the Underground with him?” she said laughing.

Jenna replied in a slightly sad voice, “Yeah, it would be nice, wouldn’t it? The Goblin City sounds a lot better than having to go back to work.”

Her eyes were still on the figure when she dramatically put both hands over her heart and said “ _the words_ ”.

‘ _Goblin King, Goblin King, wherever you may be, take me far away with you as fast as you can flee_ ’. She turned to look at Kristen who immediately burst out laughing.

“Nice! You just come up with that off the top of your head?”

“I know, I know - it's not the right words. I’ve been practicing that line for several years and it hasn’t worked yet. I wish he would come for me sometime though.” Jenna said as she looked back at the cases behind her at the semi-scary puppets. “Damn goblins! Where are they when you need them?”

“Mommy I wanna go see Big Bird.” Maddie said as she pulled on her mother’s shirt wanting to move on to finish the labyrinth.

"In a minute baby. Miss Jenna's not through yet."

“But I don’t want to wait” she whined, looking up at her mother.

“Madison Philomena Rose! Do you want Miss Jenna to see you get a spanking?”

The threat was enough to put terror in her little brown eyes mentioning her mother’s Italian ‘spankings’ so she straightened up pretty quickly.

“No” she replied meekly.

“Now zip it!” Kristin said to her daughter, rolling her eyes as she looked back to Jenna. “Are you sure you don’t want kids? I can let you have mine…….cheap!”

“I think I’m good for now. You guys can go on ahead. I'll catch up with you in a little bit." She wasn't quite through obsessing over the clothing David wore.

Jenna turned back to the case. Staring at the faceless mannequin, she barely touched the glass with her fingertips and suddenly felt a very strange sensation. Almost tingly, like an electric static shock. There were two things she had immense respect for and it was fire and electricity.

There was a strange pull towards it as well like gravity emanating from inside the case and she withdrew her hand quickly before moving away to look at the other exhibits. It frightened her a little.

Sometimes the costumed figure’s reflection would be caught in the glass wall of one she’d be standing in front of and would draw her gaze back to it. It called to her without a sound and now she felt like she was being watched though there was no one else present but her companions who were still there looking around. It was confusing and scary at the same time with its intensity. It was also very unnerving as she continued to walk around taking pictures.

The whole room wasn’t as large as they thought it would be and the walk-through ended in a shorter time than originally planned. Maddie was ready to see other things and Kristen took her out about five minutes before she was done so she tried to take as many pictures as possible before leaving.

Still feeling a little wary, she quickly pushed the doors open when she was done and walked out of the exhibit rejoining Kristen and Maddie at the other displays outside of the labyrinth.

They wandered around the various sections for the next thirty minutes and were nearing the end of the tour. Maddie was also getting a little restless and cranky so they decided it was time to go.

“It’s almost Noon so are you about ready to head out of here so we can beat the lunch rush?” Kristin said. “We can find something close to the aquarium, hopefully within walking distance”

“Yeah. Do you mind if I go back through one more time?” Jenna asked.

“Go for it, it’s what you came here to see! The kiddo got scared of the goblins and doesn’t want to go back in, so I’ll be outside here waiting with her at the gift shop”

Jenna turned towards the room and hesitated taking a deep breath before walking up to the doors and going back through wondering if the same thing would happen to her again.

Taking many more pictures along the walk, she shed a tear or two, but would never let anyone see her do it or even admit that she did. Though Kristin would never make fun of her, she understood how she felt about David and just left her to say her goodbyes alone. She really needed that time to process how she felt. It was silly. She was a grown woman and was a little embarrassed because shouldn’t behave this way.

Once again she found herself back in front of the display case with the costume. Knowing this would be the last time she would see it in her lifetime, she paused then touched the glass and again felt the static - only it was stronger this time, like a low electrical current. Her feet were frozen to the spot and tears welled up in her eyes. A small one spilled onto her cheek leaving a salty trail. ‘ _Why am I crying_?’ she said to herself wiping it away.

Her right hand was still on the glass and she took a deep breath to regain her composure before time to leave. Voices suddenly were speaking in very low, hushed tones around her filling the room and she turned her head to see who it was, not wanting anyone to see her with red, teary eyes. She was surprised to see that she was the only one in the exhibit at the moment but convinced herself that maybe it was something playing over the PA system inside the room.

As she turned her gaze back to the figure, a man’s disjointed voice whispered close to her ear catching her off-guard. It was so close that she could almost have sworn she felt breath on the side of her cheek and it raised goosebumps on her arms.

“ _Saaaaaarrraaaaaaah_ ”

It seemed like several minutes went by but it was only a couple as she stood there not knowing whether to run or to look over her shoulder to see who the voice belonged to. A sharp female voice yelled her name and broke the spell and she shook her head to bring herself out of it.

“Jenna? Hey Jen are you still in here? Now you know you can’t take David Bowie home with you!”

Jenna yelled back to her “Yeah - In here!” though she thought she said it loud but didn't come out that way. Her voice barely squeaked it out.

“I don’t feel like getting arrested this weekend or having to bail you out of jail for breaking the glass and kidnapping him!” she said, her voice coming closer to Jenna's proximity.

Kristen laughed as she walked up to her and said “I knew this is where you‘d be. C’mon let’s go to Hard Rock. Me and the kid are starving.”

As they walked away from the costume towards the exit, with Jenna lagging behind, something above the door caught her attention. Had she not looked up it would have been missed and it was a very important part of the movie.

There it was - Sarah’s speech written out from the little red book before banishing Jareth. She began to recite the passage out loud as the door closed behind Kristen.

"Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin city..." She repeated it verbatim - well, everything but the last line where she stopped short not knowing she probably should have finished the sentence.

As she walked away from the display and out of the door she still felt the pull. Unbeknownst to Jenna the effects were to last for quite a while.

She also never saw the wisp of a shadowy figure follow out behind her either as there were people starting to mill in to the exhibit.


	3. Bittersweet

Later in the afternoon Jenna and Kristen arrived back at the hotel after more sightseeing. They were both tired and Maddie was getting a little irritable from the heat and all of the walking around the aquarium and the city, so they decided to end early and kick back in the hotel room for the rest of the night. They planned on leaving after breakfast at 7 in the morning and truthfully neither really had much more ambition or energy to venture out anyways. It only took Maddie a couple of hours and she was out like a light for the rest of the night. Tucked her in to bed beside her mommy she lightly snored as Kristin switched channels on the TV.

“So was it what you expected?” Kristen asked looking over at Jenna who was propped up with pillows in the next bed looking at the pictures she took on her phone.

“It was.” She said.

“But you look a little sad.” Kristen said noticing how quiet Jenna had been since the museum.

“Yeah it was just a little bittersweet seeing it knowing David’s not with us anymore. Don’t laugh, but I cried a little on my second trip back in”

“I figured you probably would, that’s why I didn’t come back in with you.” Kristin said and smiled at her understandingly.

Jenna paused. “In case I forget to tell you, I want to thank you for making this trip happen. I know I planned on coming here by myself but having you guys here made it even better. Thank you.”

“I’ve enjoyed it just as much as you have. Maybe we can do another girl’s trip some other time back here. I’ll plan it when Randy has her that way we can get out and go somewhere downtown where we can have some “mommy juice”. This was the term she used in front of Maddie for when she needed an adult beverage. Wine was usually her choice.

It didn’t take much longer after that before both girls drifted off to sleep. Jenna never mentioned what happened while she was there in the display alone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The ride home was much quieter than the trip there. When they got back to Kristen’s, Jenna hugged her friend goodbye then tossed her bag in the back seat of her car and hung the costume on the handle above the door. Now that the trip was over there was sadness mingled with happiness and it was all she could think of on her way home. Taking this trip would never in a million years be something she’d regret.

Traffic wasn’t bad and she made it back home in good time, smiling as she turned onto her familiar tree-lined street. Things looked the same as when she left but something felt a little different – not off, but different.

Stepping out of the car she took a few steps and a warm, swift breeze rushed by her causing her hair to lift several strands to cover her face. ‘ _Strange_ ’ she thought because the wind wasn’t really blowing that hard. It never stirred again as she grabbed the suitcase and walked towards the house so she shook it off as just a random gust.

“ _Saraaaahhhhhhh_ ”

And there it was - a very, very faint whisper, close enough to her ear that it tickled, though the sound was barely audible. Jenna stopped immediately in her tracks at the front door of her house, the key in her hand frozen mid-air waiting to hear it again.  ' _That's the same voice from the museum wasn't it?_ ' she was thinking to herself.  She could have sworn she heard SOMETHING or was it her overactive imagination?

After hearing the voice before Kristen found her at the display, she never said anything. The voice sounded a little like…..Jareth possibly? It was really too low to tell. ‘ _OK, if I tell her this she’s going to think that I’m taking this whole David Bowie obsession over the limits_ ’ she thought, never knowing she’d hear it again.

Listening again for a moment and deciding it was nothing she shook her head brushing it off before bringing her one piece of luggage inside the door. The suitcase sat down on the wooden floor of her foyer with a heavy thump. Her beloved cat Murphy greeted her at the door and she bent down to pick him up. He purred loudly and snuggled his face to hers as his whiskers tickled her nose. You'd think he thought she had been gone for weeks with all of the attention he lavished on her.

“I missed you my little old man” she said hugging him before setting him down and going to the refrigerator for a bottle of water.

Remembering the costume still hanging on the back seat door hanger she took a sip of the water and readied herself to walk back out to the car into the muggy air to retrieve it. The temperature was almost 90 degrees outside and very humid for it to be the first few days in June. It occurred to her that since her hair was rather thick it tended to trap the heat underneath its heavy weight so it would have to go up in a ponytail before she even dared step outside.

"Ugh! Why did I have grow my hair out again when it’s nine thousand freaking degrees outside?" she groaned to Murphy. He followed her to the door, not about to let her out if his sight. "Oh yeah, stupid - because of this trip!" She chided herself that it was her own doing and no one else’s fault! She just wanted to be as authentic to the character as possible.

Looking at her reflection in the foyer mirror she had to admit that she did look a bit like Sarah in the costume and FELT like her too – an older version of her though. It was strange how strong of a connection she felt to the exhibit, especially to his costume. Smirking at her reflection she said out loud to no one ‘Yeah, Sarah looks like a soccer mom now’. Laughing,  she stepped out the door to her car.

Once back inside into the blessed air conditioning Jenna lovingly hung the brocade vest costume on a hanger over her bedroom closet door.

Running her hands down along the front of the vest it felt unexpectedly prickly on the tips of her fingers. It was that same odd sensation from the glass case with the Escher costume as she stood there staring at it. For a brief moment she was transfixed, the hairs pricked at the back of her neck and goose-bumps raised on her arms. The tingling got stronger.

“ _Oh shit, maybe I wasn’t dreaming it then. This feels too real_ ”. She really wished there was someone she could talk to about this that wouldn’t think she was crazy.

She took her hands off the vest and walked back into the Living Room. It was beginning to give her the creeps a little that it happened when she was miles and miles away from the museum, but it wasn’t enough to make her run screaming from her house. Well, not just yet. She’d keep a keen eye and ear peeled.

Murphy was about to follow her to the Living Room when he stopped short and looked back in time to see something that only he could see by her closet door. The hairs on his back stood up and he growled then slowly walked towards where his Master was. Of course Jenna had no idea what had happened.

The rest of the day she busied herself with doing laundry and leftover dishes not taken care of before she left. Later she went out and grabbed a bite to eat then headed home. Tomorrow was a work day, so she showered and got ready for bed dressing in a large cotton tank top and shorts for comfort. Yawning, she figured that tonight she’d be asleep quickly but the rumble of thunder close by caused her to heave an exasperated sigh in irritation because it would keep her awake.

She never heard it thunder again because within minutes she was asleep.


	4. When the Wind Blows

Friday finally arrived after what felt like the week that wouldn’t end and leaving work at five she decided on a plan for the night. That plan consisted of grabbing takeout Chinese early and relaxing in front of the television, maybe even getting to sleep before her normal bedtime.

She hadn’t seen much of Kristen at all this week to re-hash their trip. Other than a few emails they exchanged between them both of them stayed busy.

Come to think of it she hadn’t heard the voice anymore either since Sunday when she got home. She put it down to having something to do with the heat and maybe her hearing. Perhaps she should just forget even mentioning it.

Being hot and sticky for the next several days the heat wave had brought brief thunderstorms in the evenings. They weren’t enough to alleviate the humidity though. Today the air was especially heavy and still so that meant there was an enhanced chance tonight of strong storms for her area. The forecast for the next week looked to be more of the same much to Jenna’s disdain.

After she finished eating and cleaning up behind herself, Jenna looked out the window at the sky which was starting to show signs of an approaching squall line so to be on the safe side and not risk electrocution, she took a shower before anything could even get close. It was nice to just lounge around in comfy clothes in the coolness of the air-conditioner until bedtime. It was already thundering way off in the distance so going to bed sounded like a great idea since she was tired from the crazy busy week.

Turning in by nine o’clock, the storm was closer as she lay in bed watching each flash hoping to drop off into blissful sleep. By nine thirty she looked at the clock swearing because she should have already passed out. In between the lightning streaks she counted, like she did as a little girl gauging how close the storm was.

There was a large flash, then stillness.

“One thousand one…One thousand two…One thousand three” she counted. Waiting a few seconds later the loud boom followed. It was getting closer.

She loved storms for as long as she could remember and would be the crazy one out looking up at the sky while everyone else was huddled indoors safely. Tonight all she wanted to do was to rest and it just wasn’t happening as quickly as she would have like it to happen.

Murphy had curled up beside her but jumped up after the loud crash of thunder, ears back and looking directly at the door. He bolted off the bed running out of the room and did this so often that it wasn’t immediate cause for alarm. Just crazy nocturnal cat behavior. Thunder rumbled again loudly so she turned on her side and laid still, eyes half closed, eyelids getting heavier as each minute passed.

Eventually she drifted to sleep despite the storm – that is until about two in the morning. The storm had subsided and the moon shone brightly from a now clear, star-filled sky. Everything was peaceful and quiet, or so she thought

Murphy had returned to her bed and was sleeping in the nook of her knees when he woke her up growling again. She shifted her legs to bump him and make him be quiet.

“Cut it out!” she said through gritted teeth then mumbled, “Stupid cat!”

Eyes still closed, she removed an arm from under the sheet in an attempt to swat at him.

He jumped off the bed hissing at who knows what. He probably didn’t know what either.

She suddenly had an overwhelmingly intense feeling of being watched and it woke her, making her eyes fly wide open but her body was paralyzed. As a little girl she was deathly afraid of the ‘closet monster’ and now Jenna was having a serious flashback to that scary memory. Usually she’d be back asleep within five minutes but that was after her mother came to tuck her back in. Jenna had long since grown out of most of her childish fears but she always kept a little of the fear tucked away in her heart.

Looking out of the corner of her one eye that wasn’t buried in the cloud of hair on the pillow, a shadow loomed against the wall partly illuminated by bluish moonlight and the streetlight. From her peripheral vision it appeared from the direction of her window. She thought at first it must be her Sarah costume that was still hung on the closet door. She hadn’t touched the waistcoat since it was hung Sunday and after the weird sensation it gave her as far as she was concerned then it could stay there!

Her next thought was someone had broken in. She held her breath staying silent hoping that whoever it was wouldn’t know she was there. Looking again through the curtain of hair hanging across her face she noticed that the shadow never moved. It was just her imagination.

After a few tense moments the apprehension faded and she relaxed drifting back off to sleep. This wasn’t the first time her sleep was interrupted because she thought there was a burglar in her home or some other crazy nonsense.

Sighing she rolled over to lay on her back and adjusted the sheet back over her body.

The next sound made cold chills run all over her body.

“ _Saraaah”_ ”

This time it wasn't as drawled out but was a lot louder than the barely whispered tone she heard before in the museum and at her door.


End file.
